Extraordinary Politics: How Protest And Dissent Are Changing American Democracy

Extraordinary Politics: How Protest And Dissent Are Changing American Democracy
ISBN-10
0429969163
ISBN-13
9780429969164
Category
Political Science
Pages
304
Language
English
Published
2018-02-19
Publisher
Routledge
Author
Charles Euchner

Description

Political protest and social movementstheir history; their cyclical development; their organization, strategies, and tacticsconstitute what Charles Euchner calls extraordinary politics, an antidote to the breakdown of politics-as-usual and a necessary, if not sufficient, condition of democracy. Activists have set the pace on every conceivable issue, including the environment, gay rights, feminism, abortion, states rights, religion, and multiculturalism. The president and Congress can barely keep up, but extraordinary politics keeps evolving. With style and grace, the author weaves together hundreds of examples drawn from movements spanning the ideological spectrum to offer both a practical and intellectual guidebook to political activism in a reputedly apathetic age, embracing with abandon the art of making a difference. }When dissidents and activists toppled powerful regimes across the globe in the 1980s and 1990sfrom the Soviet Union to South Africa, from Nicaragua to the Philippineshow did Americans respond to challenges in their own country? The conventional wisdom is that Americans sullenly withdrew from all manner of political action. But in fact, activists of all backgrounds took to the streets to challenge ordinary structures of politics.These movementstheir history; their cyclical development; their organization, strategies, and tacticsconstitute what the author calls extraordinary politics. Activists have set the pace on every conceivable issue, including the environment, gay rights, feminism, abortion, states rights, religion, and multiculturalism. The president and Congress can barely keep up, but extraordinary politics keeps evolving.With style and grace, Charles Euchner weaves together hundreds of examples drawn from movements spanning the ideological spectrum to offer both a practical and intellectual guidebook to political activism in a reputedly apathetic age, embracing with abandon the art of making a difference. }

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